Getting an API key
An API key is a long password that lets Abe use a transcription service on your behalf. You create it on the provider’s website, paste it into Abe once, and you’re done. Abe never sees your bill and takes no cut: you pay the provider directly, at their list price, for the audio you send.
You don’t need a key at all if you’d rather use Local mode, which is free and works offline.
Which provider should I pick?
Section titled “Which provider should I pick?”We recommend Groq. It’s very fast, it’s the cheapest (about 4 cents per hour of talking), and you can start on its free plan: a payment method is only requested if you upgrade.
| Groq (recommended) | OpenAI | Custom | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost to start | Free plan; card only if you upgrade | At least $5 of prepaid credit | Depends on the service |
| Transcription model | whisper-large-v3-turbo |
gpt-transcribe |
Whatever your server offers |
| Transcription price | $0.04 per hour | $0.27 per hour | Depends |
| Voice Transform model | openai/gpt-oss-120b |
gpt-6-luna |
Any chat model, for example through Ollama |
| Monthly spend limit | Yes, on the paid plan | Yes | Depends |
Prices are list prices as of October 2026. See Costs for every model and a calculator.
Voice Transform needs a chat model
Section titled “Voice Transform needs a chat model”Voice Transform rewrites text you’ve selected, which needs a language model, not just speech recognition. Voice Transform always uses a cloud or custom provider, even when you transcribe locally. You have three options:
- Groq with
openai/gpt-oss-120b(recommended): fast, and a fraction of a cent per transform. - OpenAI with
gpt-6-luna. - Custom: any OpenAI-compatible chat endpoint, such as Ollama on your own computer (keeps everything offline) or OpenRouter.
Each guide shows how to set this up.
Where your key is stored
Section titled “Where your key is stored”Abe stores your key in your operating system’s secure credential store, never in a plain settings file:
- Windows: Credential Manager
- macOS: Keychain
The key is handled by Abe’s native backend and is only ever sent to the provider it belongs to, over HTTPS. You can remove it any time in Settings with Remove, or from your OS credential manager.
Keep your key safe
Section titled “Keep your key safe”- Treat a key like a password. Don’t paste it into emails, chats or websites you don’t trust.
- Set a monthly spend limit with your provider. Dictation is cheap, so a small limit is plenty, and it protects you if a key ever leaks.
- If you think a key was exposed, delete it in the provider’s dashboard and create a new one. Each guide explains how.
If something goes wrong, see the troubleshooting section of your provider’s guide or the general Troubleshooting page.